TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

Before we jump in too far , let me preface this build thread by saying; I travel for a living and I split my non-traveling time between FL and NYC, so I'm away from my garage a lot. This will be a slow go. But I'm in no hurry. With that said:


I've always liked to turn wrenches. But building a career and living in apartments never gave me the time or wherewithal to have a proper project. About three years ago, I bought a small house on a canal on the west coast of FL. I finally have a garage (20' x 20' but it'll have to do). I'm tired of spending all of my time and money on home improvement so I decided to make a dumb financial decision and take on a swap project and put my garage to good use.


I've always been a GM guy and have been intrigued by the LS engines. After seeing JakeB's E36/LS3 swap, I decided to get off the sidelines an get to work. Bear in mind, I don't have 10% of the knowledge, experience and talent that JakeB and many of you have, but why let that stop me


So, the hunt began for an engine and a car. I found the engine before I found the car. It's a 2006 LS2/T56 out of a GTO with 71K miles. I got the pedals, full harness, PCM and MAF. LKQ was great to work with. The engine was in the NC yard and they had it shipped to their Crystal River, FL yard in just a few days (at no additional charge).



LKQ Cyrstal River









Back at home



The Donor Car





I knew I wanted a clean car...as clean as possible. It seems “clean” is a very subjective term. I looked at a few M3's in the $4K-$6K range that were represented as clean but to me, they looked like ***. It seemed that truly clean E36 M3's are still north of $10K.


So I decided to focus on non-M cars. Ironically, the first car I looked at is the car I ended up buying. It's a single owner, 1998 328iS, five speed, sport package, female owned, FL car with 83K miles that's been garaged most of its life. In a perfect world, it would have had a black interior but this was WAY to clean to pass on. There are a few very minor dings but overall the paint, body and clear coat are in fantastic condition.


1998 328iS






Sport Seats



There only problems with the car are (1) the drivers seat would recline but not come forward (2) there was a bit of glove box sag (3) the steering wheel doesn't lock (4) the door chime chimes with the door open when there is no key in the ignition and the headlights are off (could be related to the steering lock mechanism) and (5) there is a parasitic battery drain (could be related to the steering lock/chime issue).


I did some research and discovered the recline failure is common. I bought a replacement gear from OdometerGears, removed the seat and replaced the broken gear.


Seat Removed



Broken Gear



Gear Repaired



The glove box sag turned out to be caused by the tan glove box cover separating from the glove box assembly. A little 5 minute epoxy seems to have made it almost as good as new:


Sag



Sag Repaired


- - - Updated - - -

I didn't want to remove the stock engine until I found a buyer. My garage is simply too small to have a second engine sitting on the floor and I wanted to be able to demonstrate the engine for the prospective buyer. I posted the engine/trans on several forums and on CL. It took a while, but I finally found the “right” buyer. These two guys have an E36 track car and the series they race it in requires a stock engine.After performing a compression check, they made an offer. And what an offer it was! About an hour away, they have a commercial condo set up as the ultimate man cave. It's a 1300 sq ft shop (not including the office space) with a lift and all of the tools to make pulling an engine a breeze. I drove the car to their shop and we(mostly them) pulled the engine. At the end of the day, they loaded the roller onto one of their trailers and brought it back to my house! The windshield was cracked in the process (when the hood was pushed back after removing the struts) but they gave me an extra $150 as compensation. :thumbup:


The ultimate man cave



Engine Removed



Empty!



Very clean underneath!



Loaded onto the trailer





So, I'm officially “all in.” I had been planning to use the Vorshlag mounts and headers but as this will be primarily a street toy (for the time being), I want it to be as comfortable to drive as possible. I know this is hotly debated but I don't believe urethane mounts will provide the level of smoothness I'm looking for. If this was nothing but a track car, I would have already placed an order with Vorshlag. So, given that I don't have the tools or experience to fabricate my own solution, I am going to be the first “production” customer for the JTR (Jags That Run) kit that utilizes factory GM rubber mounts for both the engine and transmission (Corvette and Camaro).


JTR should be ready to ship the headers and mounts in a few days. In the mean time, I have a lot of cleaning to do. I also have to choose a location for the ABS pump and decide if I'm going to swap the vacuum booster to a hydroboost.


I debated whether or not to put a cam in the LS2. Part of me thinks its smarter to get it running while its stock, to minimize the chance any user induced screw-ups. But the other part thinks it would be foolish to not take advantage of how simple it is to swap the cam while the engine is on the stand. I've decided to swap the cam now and will order the parts from Tick tomorrow.

Tipsy

TypeIsCheap

Good call on the cam swap. I didn't do it due to the reasons you mentioned but in hindsight it would have given me a lot more insight into the internal condition of the engine, the push rods, rockers, etc. And of course the power bump. Well worth it!

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

After speaking with Martin at Tick, I ended up ordering a custom grind. We had a good discussion about "driveability" and I explained that peak HP is not my main concern. I want to be enjoy driving the car, and not have to coax it to behave. Martin threw so many numbers out that I honestly don't remember exactly what I ordered but I trust his expertise. The stock LS2 already has more than twice the HP of the BMW engine, so a nice sounding idle with a few more ponies and easy driveability will make me happy.

I'm fairly certain I'm going to go with a hydroboost setup, so once I have the ramp situation squared away, I'll start on the brakes.

Tipsy

rotor vs. piston

iTrader: (3)

I would get the engine running on a stand first and then do the cam swap. A lot of people complain about noise from some cams, would be good to know what your engine sounds like before the cam swap.

Will be interested to see how the JTR kit works out.

jwindbigler

iTrader: (20)

One day I'll do this to my E36. But not anytime soon lol

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

Brad,

Your cam specs are 229/232 .615/.575 114lsa.

This should give an extremely nice mannered ride along with a very table top torque curve. The LS2 has great compression from the factory and with the intake close event I specified, this thing will make some great power across the board.

The lobes I use 95% of the time with hydraulic roller N/A LS engines offer a quieter valve train than some others. I've found the noise to mainly originate from the exhaust lobe used. This is not the only reason I use a milder exhaust lobe, but is one of them.

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

Excellent Martin! Thanks! For those interested, I had intended to order the SNS TorqueMAX Stage 2 cam. After discussing whether the standard or "milder" version would be better suited for my application, Martin recommended a custom grind.

The LS2 out-of-the-box more than doubles the stock HP of the E36, so I'm not after every available additional HP. The heads are stock, as are the intake and TB. The only modifications I'm making are the cam, valve springs, push rods and JTR's long tube headers.

My main goal is to gain some additional power/performance/sound while retaining good driveability. This is primarily a street toy (for now) and I want to enjoy driving it. Based on that discussion, the above specs are what Martin recommended.

Tipsy

jwindbigler

iTrader: (20)

Make sure to do the throttle body bypass mod so you don't preheat your air coming in.

Are you intending to pull the heads off?

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

I had given some thought to pulling the heads but other than curiosity, I see no reason to do so.

I'm not familiar with the TB bypass mod???

Tipsy

wayfastwhitey08

there's a coolant passage in the throttle body. if you look you'll see the inlet and outlet for the coolant to pass through it. just undo the lines and re-route them to one another to bypass it

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

I see. Thanks.

Tipsy

TypeIsCheap

On a swap they are inherently bypassed, just don't hook them up to anything. Other than the radiator hoses the only coolant line you need to worry about is the steam vent line (route to water pump, upper radiator hose, or I tee'd into the small hose that goes from the top of the radiator to the reservoir.)

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

No kidding that thing is clean!

Are you planning any suspension mods? The couple non-M e36's I've ridden in were a little soft, atmo.

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

I'm planning to upgrade the suspension, but I want to approach this in stages, so as to not become overwhelmed. Step one is to get it moving with its new power.

That said, the front control arms are shot and will need to be replaced. I've read that the 1995 M3 front control arms share the same geometry as my non-M 1998, but I I'm not sure if there's a significant benefit in using the M3 bits. More research is necessary.

Not exactly swap related but here's what I spent the past few days putting together; I bought a reman'd 30 gallon, oil lubed compressor from Northern Tool a month or two ago. While I don't have plans to do any painting, it's very humid here in FL, especially in the summer; so I put together this copper water separator along with an Ingersoll Rand regulator/filter/lubricator and a Harbor Freight 3/8" hose reel. The reel is suspended from the attic trusses with UniStrust. That hose reel is heavy! I had the help of a couple of friends to get it in place.

Tipsy

Compressor and Water Separator


Regulator/Filter/Oil Lubricator


UniStrut in Attic


Gratuitous LS2 Shot

vazfx16

Nice build.

douglee25

Sweet!

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

Cam come in yet?

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

Martin, are you asking if I've received the cam yet? I actually emailed you last night.

I never received an emailed order verification and I haven't received tracking info (if there's been a shipment).

Are we on the same page?

Thanks.

Tipsy

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

Just a small update: I'd been away for nearly month and I'm only here for five days before I have to travel again, so I wanted to get something done.

I can't push the car out of the garage without having it roll downhill on my sloped driveway. Without some help to push it back into the garage, my hands are kind of tied. There's no room in front of the car while it's in the garage. I will eventually use a winch to pull the car back into the garage but I still need to install some kind of anchor into the garage floor before I can do so.

So, I spent half of yesterday and most of today building ramps to extend the plane of the garage floor over the sloped driveway, so I can push the car back and keep it level.

Building the stringers was a bit tricky because the slope of the driveway is not constant. It's steeper at the threshold and then flattens out. It took some trial and error (and some wasted lumber) to get a satisfactory stringer shape.

I still need to install some kind of chock on the back of the ramps to keep the car from rolling off, but they're basically finished. They're heavy, but they're strong. They're made from 2x12's and 3/4" plywood with a lot of PL Premium and screws. The holes are my sad attempt to make them lighter. It was a pointless endeavor.

I also got my cam/valve springs/oil pump/timing chain/oil pan, so I'd like to get those installed in the LS2 when I'm back in town.

Figuring out the stringers:


Some waste - trial and error:


Just need chocks:

brutalis

iTrader: (3)

The ramps are a neat idea to extend your garage space. They also could serve a bonus purpose when you've finished the swap: back the car in the garage, then pull out onto these for an easy oil change!